To smoke or not to smoke?

Janusz Palikot. Photo: DR-N.

One time vodka-tycoon Palikot had said he would light up in the parliamentary chamber as part of a campaign to legalize marijuana in Poland.

Palikot had also invited members of the Free Hemp Society to share a joint with him.

“We want to show that smoking a joint is not a big deal and all this fuss surrounding Palikot is nothing but narcophobia,” Jakub Gajewski, a spokesperson for the Free Hemp Society told Wprost.pl.

Gajewski also promised what he called “some other surprises” and a press conference at the Sejm, before the smoking.

In December last year, legislation was passed giving prosecutors a choice over whether to charge people found in possession of soft drugs “for their own personal use” or not.

Third place in elections last year with 10 percent of the vote, Palikot’s Movement wants to repeal various restrictions on individual freedoms, including possession and smoking of cannabis.

The former member of PM Donald Tusk's ruling Civic Platform that was re-elected in 2011 could face a three-year prison term for this symbolic act.

Tusk has said he opposes the legalisation of soft drugs.

About 10,000 people are in prison currently for possession of marihuana.

Speaker of the lower house of parliament, Ewa Kopacz, has informed the public prosecutor that a crime may occur at the parliament building, Friday. (jh/pg)